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Sunday, June 7

BEA 2009 Wrap Up

Yeah, I've been hording my BEA wrap-up from you!

Lets start at the beginning:

Friday my car was in the shop getting some repairs. I got a call mid-day Friday letting me know it would NOT be ready to pick up until Monday. I'm supposed to leave for NYC Saturday morning at 4:00 AM! I rushed to find a rental car. It wasn't a big issue but it did increase my BEA budget significantly ($108). Not too crazy but I wasn't expecting to spend more than $100 on the entire trip.

Friday night was crazy. I wanted to go to bed no later than 9:00 pm. I went to bed at 12:00 am! I then got up at 3:30 am, showered and started on my 4 hour trip to NYC. It took me 5 hours to get to NYC! My stomach was a mess. I'm assuming lack of sleep, nerves, and just plain excitement had everything to do with it. I made several stops along the way, only ran into one accident on the interstate and only made one wrong turn in the city.

I paid $50 for parking right across the street from the Javits, which was awesome cause I unloaded my heavy ass bag full of books mid-day into the car! :) The parking was scary though. The lot was sooo small! The guy sardined the cars onto the lot and I about had a heart attack because it was a rental car he was parking so close together with the other cars! Geesh! All was well though. The guy was a sweetheart.

When I first arrived I picked up my badge and the lovely BEA Bible. I ventured into the exhibit hall and sighed in relief. I made it. I was here on personal/blog business and I was going to have fun and grab some amazing books! I referred to my "to-do" list and set out to conquer my conquests.

My first stop was the Penguin booth to grab a signed copy of Fire by Kristin Cashore. The signing was being held in the "traditional" area, which was downstairs in the children's section. I got in line and left with a signed copy of Fire! :) (NOTICE: It's not in my picture because I've lent it to my good friend Kevin, who lent me Graceling.)

After that I browsed the children's exhibits and then headed upstairs until it was time to go to the Harlequin booth to pick up two amazing books by two of my most favorite authors! Rachel Vincent and Gena Showalter! They were both signing at the same time at the Harlequin booth. So I had to pick who's line to get in first! Such a dilemma because I hated to pick! But it really was easy because, I'm like, obsessed with Rachel Vincent and all of her books are just amazing, Gena's are too but Gena's books have never hit me as hard as Rachel's. When an author brings me to tears they are forever going to be at the top of my favorites list and the first author I'm going to read when it comes down to picking. So, there I was in line to get a signed copy of My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. I knew she would recognize me once I showed her my badge. And I was right. It was such a pleasure to meet her in person. I only wish I could have "talked" with her or had my picture taken with her. I also picked up a very cool white MSTT t-shirt. I wore it while I read it. :) I finished MSTT in one day and will be posting my review one week before it's release day in coordination with Rachel and a giveaway. So stay tuned! :)

After I grabbed my copy of MSTT I jumped in Gena's line. She too knew who I was. I only stalk my favorite authors. ;) It was great to grab a copy of Intertwined by Gena Showalter. I really want to read it and will probably make it my next couple of books to read. (I really need to read Witch Fury by Anya Bast! She was so kind to send me a copy before it's release date but I put it aside. Sorry Anya! :() Anyhow, I'm super excited about Intertwined.

Those two books were my must haves of BEA. I spent the next hour or so browsing the booths. I grabbed a few other books before my scheduled "blogger signing" at the NetGalley-Firebrand booth.

The signing was great. I meet a few fellow bloggers and publishers as well as some authors. My time was scheduled with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Sarah Wendell, who got a ton of people to come see her, which only benefited me! :) Thanks Sarah! A few pictures were taken during that time. One shows the amazing "trading cards" that were created, printed and available for us to "sign" for our visitors by Glatfelter Paper, Melissa Klug @PermanentPaper.

And here's a picture of Sarah and I (I didn't know it was being taken, obviously).

After the signing I continued to browse the booths. I soon meet up with an online friend and aspiring author, Lacey. Lacey and I meet years ago on, strangely, an online multi-player shoot'em up game Counter-Strike, which I still play. She was a blast to send a few hours with. We walked the children's section mostly, because that's her specialty. She's currently working on a young adult novel. Check out her website, which I just LOVE! Thanks Lacey for meeting up with me. It was a pleasure to meet you in person! :)

I ventured over to the Blogger Panel. I didn't stay very long because it was 2:00 and I hadn't eaten yet. It was cool to see the panel of bloggers representin' us bloggers. I'm proud that we are being recognized as a legitimate and very influential marketing tool. We do deserve some recognition and praise for our hard work to get the word out about the books and authors. I ended up spending $13 for a very crappy Chinese lunch. :(

The very last thing I wanted to accomplish before leaving BEA was obtaining a copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I did and I was sooo excited! I read Shiver right after My Soul to Take and I've already posted my review of it too.

Overall, BEA was a blast. I got everything BUT Another Faust while at BEA. I requested a copy of Another Faust from Dina, one of the authors, via email when I got back home. I ended up with two copies some how. So, I'm going to have a contest for my extra copy this week.